LOGINHe was clad in black leather clothes from up to toe, black gloves on his hands. Hair melted together, dropped around his face like he had just toweled them dry. He looked like he was going for a ride.
The painting remained in my hand, and his sharp hypnotizing oceanic blue eyes remained on me. “What the fuck are you doing in my room?” I wasn’t expecting that. But I wasn’t going to run off like I hadn’t seen anything either. “This is me…you have a painting of me.” I said, not avoiding eyes contact even though it was torture looking at him like this. He stormed towards me without words and snatched the painting from me. “Shit. You weren’t supposed to see that.” “Why?” I asked. I wanted to know everything. “Do you go around entering people’s rooms and pulling covers off private things, Teyana?” His voice wrapped around my name like a challenge. “Well, it is not so private anymore because that’s me in there.” I stated defiantly. He took a step forward. I didn’t move. He closed the space between us and my breath hitched. Memories of when we kissed flooded my head yet again. I blinked as we looked into each other’s eyes. I was slowly losing awareness of my surroundings, because all I could see was him. “Get out,” I jolted out of the cocoon I was in. Did he just order me to go out? “No.” I said with defiance. I deserved clarity. He couldn’t do this to me. Then with a look that sat almost vulnerable on his face, and a softer tone that gave me chills to my bones, he said, “Teyan, Please. Just get out of here before I do what I’m not supposed to do.” I shivered, as I felt his hand already on my waist, squeezing and grazing. My whole body shook. His blue eyes were now darker with what looked like intense want. Tears grazed my eyes. Jeremy wanted me? Has he always wanted me? I didn’t wait to confirm. I pivoted on my feet and started to run away but before I could slip past his room, his footsteps sounded behind me then the next thing I felt was his hand closing around my waist and pulling me to him. I gasped. His grip was hot, almost possessive. I didn’t understand. I felt his breath on my neck, fanning like it was trying to make a statement. “You want to talk?” His thumb slid up my waist, brushing the skin beneath my top. “Or do you want me to make you feel exactly the way I painted you?” His voice was breathless. He was aching…for me? My heart stopped. Then he turned me around and stared into my eyes like he wanted to see through my soul. I couldn’t feel myself. “Teyan,” was all he breathed before he joined his lips with mine without my approval. Hard. It was more than a kiss, it lacked gentleness and hesitation. It was wild and dominant, like he was trying to join my soul with his. I gasped, and he took it as an invitation to deepen the kiss, his tongue parting my lips, claiming me like he’d been starving for this moment. I grabbed his shirt, fisting the fabric just to stay upright. His body pressed into mine, firm and demanding, his other hand sliding up the back of my neck, tangling in my hair as he tilted my head to kiss me deeper. Harder. Like he needed to erase every trace of space between us. My back hit the wall. I didn’t even know we’d moved. He groaned into my mouth as his thigh pushed between mine, parting them. My body betrayed me completely, grinding into him with a whimper I couldn’t hold back. “Damn Teyan, you really want me to claim you like the dirty books you read?” I paused for a moment. What? He realized my shock as he panted away his arousal. His eyes came back to meet mine. His lips grazed mine as he spoke in whispers. “I knew. I was here before your mum introduced us.” He gasped against my lips, then continued, not minding the shock on my face. “Imagine my shock when my Dad showed me your picture. Said you were my stepsister. I went to your room thinking you were there. Instead, I saw the opened book on your bed.” “You…you saw that?” I didn’t even know what to say. I didn’t know which was more surreal. That Jeremy and I were making out or that he had painted me or that he had seen my dirty secret. “Yeah. Turned out I wasn’t the only one with a dirty secret. I saw the note. The one you slipped in between the book, talking about how you wished Jeremy Carter could do what you read to you.” Yes I heard that. But, my heightened arousal didn’t allow me to feel embarrassed because I was soaking wet. “God, Jer.” I moaned as his face grazed my neck, hands wandering around my thighs. “Do you really want me to do those things to you? Because since that dare, I couldn’t stop imagining ruining a particular nerd” I couldn’t speak. I was a mess. He remembered. God, he did. “You are my own dirty fantasy, Teyan.” His lips moved to my jaw, then down my neck, open-mouthed and messy, and I arched into him with a gasp. His teeth scraped gently at my skin, sending shocks down my spine. I could feel him—all of him—hard and thick, bulging against me. And I didn’t care that it was wrong. Or that he was my stepbrother now or he was no more just the obsession I couldn’t get over. Or that we were breaking every rule. I wanted more. “Jeremy,” I breathed, my voice shaking. “We shouldn’t…” Or did I want to say ‘we should’ ? “Tell me to stop,” he growled against my throat. “Right now. Say the words and I will.” I didn’t. I couldn’t. Instead, I pulled him closer. “No. Don’t stop, please.” That was all he needed. He pulled off his leather gloves like they were a burden to him, then he gripped my thighs and lifted me effortlessly, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me to the bed like I weighed nothing. Our mouths collided again, faster, wetter, more desperate, and I couldn’t tell where I ended and he began. His hands were under my shirt. Sliding up. Finding my bra and pushing it out of the way. His thumbs rolled over my nipples, making me moan into his kiss. He pulled my shirt up, and stared at my naked boobs then took a moment to stare at them with dilated pupils. “I painted you right. I knew you were quite busty underneath those busty sweaters.” Then he lowered himself and attacked a sharp pointed nipple into his lips. I never knew it was possible to ache this wildly for a man. He sucked my nipple gently then bit it, and moved to the other pointing bud, doing the same. I arched into him. I was dripping wet, I could feel my arousal all over my thighs. “God, you taste exactly how I imagined,” he groaned. He pulled away for a moment and looked into my eyes—intensely. Shit, what was this man doing to me? I didn’t expect what he said next. “Stay away from Zayne, Teyan. He’s bad news.” It took me a moment to remember who he was talking about. I wanted to ask questions, but then, Jeremy kissed my forehead. Nothing else mattered henceforth. He rejoined his lips with mine and I welcomed it with all of me. Little did I know that, I should have stopped it. I should have said no. Because right here, was the very beginning of my ruin.The burial came faster than my heart could keep up with. It was only a day after her death. My stepdad said she had told him she wanted to be buried soon after her death. Learning that my mum had been preparing ahead of her own death had only made me cry deeper.I stood there under a dull sky, dressed in black, sunglasses hiding eyes that were swollen and aching. Carol stood beside me, her arm around my back, steadying me when my legs forgot how to hold my weight.The pastor spoke about heaven, rest and peace.All I could think about was how my mother used to hum when she cooked. How she used to braid my hair even when I pretended I was too old for it. How she used to say my name like it was something precious. When she told me about the lords…how she cared for me in her own faulty way.‘Mum.’The word echoed painfully inside me now, unanswered.John stood a few steps away, grief carved deep into his posture. When he came to me, he wrapped his arms around me carefully, like he was afr
~Teyana’s POV~I went to the hospital that morning believing I still had time.Before now, I had been resting in my apartment with Carol by my side. Jeremy didn’t look back. He hadn’t reached out. My healing was quite fast too.I only experienced body weakness every now and then- including the heaviness in my heart that stayed and refused to go. John had been going to see my mother frequently. He must have felt guilty after I confronted him. He called me regularly, and even sent some huge sums to my account without informing me ahead- so that I wouldn’t lack anything I needed for proper healing.This morning, I was ready to see my mother. I was eager to face her again after we talked on the phone last night. As usual, she was able to spot the hesitation in my voice and had asked if I wanted to tell her anything.She had asked about the baby too and had made me promise again that I wouldn’t remove the pregnancy. If only she knew. I had wanted to tell her on the phone last night, but I
~Teyana’s POV~My Stepdad stood near the window at first, arms folded, staring out at the parking lot below like he was trying to keep himself together for my sake. Vance must have informed him, and now he knew about my pregnancy, and that I had aborted his son’s baby. I wondered how that must have felt to him- considering it was after I confronted him and Mariah earlier today.He finally turned around and approached my bed, “You shouldn’t let Jeremy’s words get to you,” he said gently, pulling the chair beside my bed closer and sitting down. “He was only speaking from a place of anger.”I stared at the ceiling instead of looking at him.My body was still heavy, weak in that quiet way that whispered pain into every movement. My lower abdomen ached faintly, like a reminder I couldn’t switch off. My chest hurt more. That one was louder.John continued, carefully choosing his words like each sentence could either help me breathe or push me further under.“What you did,” he said slowly,
~Jeremy’s POV~I had been sitting here for so long that the plastic chair beneath me had molded to my weight, or maybe I had gone numb enough not to feel it anymore. My hands were clasped together, fingers interlocked so tightly my knuckles had turned pale, yet I hadn’t noticed when it happened.Carrying her in earlier had felt mechanical, like my body was moving ahead of my mind, like instinct had taken over because if I stopped to think, I might have shattered completely.I had been afraid she would die.That fear had been sharp, animalistic, clawing at my chest as I held her weight and felt how fragile she was, how wrong that felt. But now that fear had dulled into something heavier. Anger. A quiet, simmering anger that sat in my lungs and refused to let me breathe properly.I didn’t pray- didn’t pace. I just sat there.When Carol finally came toward me, I shifted and looked up at her. Her steps were hesitant, face pale. I was eager to hear an update from her.“She’s stable now,” s
~Jeremy’s POV~•Hours Earlier•I had rebuilt my life piece by piece. Quietly and intentionally.I went back into racing fully, I continued painting, and I was silently building an empire nobody knew about- outside here of course. I painted slow strokes for long hours, letting my thoughts spill onto canvas. I returned to the underground boxing ring once, only once, and it didn’t hit the same anymore. The rage that once fueled it was gone. Or maybe it had settled into something quieter. I replaced it with gym sessions instead. I was more disciplined and controlled now. A routine that made me feel a lot stronger than I used to be.I moved my studies online. I wasn’t going back to Stanford. There was no point pretending as if there was something left for me here anymore, except my ride. After the international race, I’d be leaving for Vegas.So my life became structured.Race.Paint.Gym.Ride with Zayne and the biker boys.And stay away from the Carter house.That last one wasn’t negoti
~Teyana’s POV~I had noticed it long before I admitted it to myself. John had stopped coming as often to the hospital to visit my mother.At first, I told myself I was being unfair, that men like him- men who carried companies- underground duties on their backs and countries in their contacts, measured love differently. But hospitals have a way of stripping excuses bare. You start noticing patterns when you spend every day staring at the same walls like I had for sometime now in my mother’s ward. My mother noticed too. She never said it outright, but she asked about him in ways that pretended not to ask.“Were you in the house today? Did John eat today?”“Did he mention if he’s traveling again?”“Tell him not to rush. I’ll be fine.”She was never fine.And now, because I would need days of rest after the abortion- days where I wouldn’t be able to move without folding in on myself- someone else had to take my place beside her hospital bed. Aunt Kelly had flown back to London for urge







